More than a hundred Swiggy delivery partners under the platform of the All India Gig Workers' Union struck work in Marathahalli on Friday, demanding fair wages.
A key demand of the workers is a fixed salary of Rs 26,000 per month, in line with the central trade unions' minimum wage demand.
Currently, the payment ranges from Rs 15-45 per delivery, depending on the distance covered, said Akshay Chowdhury, one of the protesters.
“We get an incentive of Rs 425 for Rs 650 earned for 25 deliveries a day. These days, we get only one or two orders an hour. Fewer orders mean our earnings are just about Rs 300-400 a day. We don’t get the incentives,” said Chowdhury.
“We must work 12 to 14 hours to earn the incentives. We must also spend for fuel and phone recharge from our earnings,” Chowdhury added. He said Swiggy is ceaselessly hiring new delivery partners, which reduces the number of orders per partner.
"Worldwide, anyone who works eight-hour shifts gets a fixed salary. Hence, we are also asking for a fixed amount. Those who perform better within the shift timings can be given incentives," said Chowdhury.
The workers also said Swiggy levies heavy penalties on their earnings based on customer feedback. The process is not transparent and workers do not get an explanation for their salary cuts. They asked Swiggy to streamline their order delivery system.
Though delivery partners are informed that the orders are ready, they are made to wait 20 to 40 minutes at the restaurant. This prevents them from taking the next order, besides earning them negative customer feedback.
Grievance redressal officer
Noting that they are paid little for long-distance deliveries made outside of their zones, the workers asked Swiggy to appoint a grievance redressal officer in each zone to address their day-to-day issues.
"We organised the strike because Swiggy workers have not been able to reach out to the management. We are also planning to ask the government to intervene and bring about a legislation through which workers can get relief," said Suman Das Mohapatra, Convenor, All India Gig Workers’ Union-Karnataka.
Workers returned to work on Friday evening after Swiggy’s Marathahalli zonal manager promised to discuss their issues with senior managers. Chowdhury said the manager sought time till Monday. “We will continue work until then,” he said.
“If our issues are not resolved, we will continue the strike again collaborating with gig workers in other companies like Zomato,” he said.
DH was unable to reach Swiggy for comment.